Adventure games are almost synonymous with the PC, and some of the best proved that videogames could be funny long before modern favorites like Thank Goodness You’re Here. Revolution gave us Broken Sword; Sierra delivered King’s Quest; LucasArts brought Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and of course both Monkey Island and Sam and Max, which then moved into the care of Telltale Games. This gave us the magnificent Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, which recently got a Steam remaster – and now a new update for 2025 has fixed one of its oldest frustrations, alongside another welcome addition.
Telltale Games did a magnificent job of taking charge of the Monkey Island and Sam and Max games. Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse is one of the best adventure games of all time for my money, and stands among the funniest. That game, along with its two predecessors, is now in the hands of a small group of ex-Telltale devs known as Skunkape Games, who have brought loving remasters of all three to Steam. The Devil’s Playhouse arrived in August 2024, and holds a 99% Steam rating from those who bought it – and it’s just been made even better.
“We’ve got a quick update for The Devil’s Playhouse that fixes some extremely well-aged bugs,” Skunkape Games writes. “Many of these are bugs from the original release, bugs that thought they would be comfy in an early retirement after 15 years out in the wild. We’re sorry, bugs. Happy New Year.” Among these are missing animations, mismatches between voice lines and subtitles, and a sign that reads ‘43D Street’ instead of ‘43rd Street.’
Perhaps more pleasingly, the team has also increased the subtitle speed to match the previous seasons. “Sam and Max Save the World and Beyond Time and Space have always had a nice, snappy subtitle speed,” Skunkape explains. “For whatever reason, the third season’s [subtitle speed] has always been slower. A few people pointed it out and asked that we make it consistent, so we did.”
Skunkape’s latest update also adds d-pad support for both walking around as Sam and controlling the camera in Max Mode. The team says, “We’re not sure why this wasn’t a feature before, but it is now.” A comparatively minor tweak, perhaps, but I’m sure someone out there will benefit from it, and it’s always good to see extra features added where possible.
Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse remaster is out now on Steam, priced at $19.99 / £16.75, or $44.97 / £35.80 as a bundle containing all three remastered Sam and Max games. If you’ve yet to experience The Devil’s Playhouse, now is as good a time as any – it remains a true delight of the genre, and if you like a challenge then some of its puzzles will really put you to the test.
For more like that, check out the best puzzle games. Or see what else lies ahead – 2025’s early months are looking pretty packed, so be sure to take a look through the biggest and best upcoming PC games to see what’s coming next.
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